I have remained fascinated by Jose Ferrer's performance from the first time I saw this movie. His delivery of Rostand's sentiments was so natural in its articulation and emotional content that he didn't seem to be rendering a scripted dialog at all, especially during the duel at the theater. He so deserved his best performance award. The foibles of some of the rest of the cast were lost in the dazzle of the show Ferrer put on, although his brilliance could do nothing to hide the overhead microphone that popped into view during the portion of the duel on stage where Cyrano tossed the vicomte's epee into the air. I'm also surprised that, as something of a swashbuckler, the movie reportedly lost money.

The previous citation is an IBM invention with a completely different technical purpose from Garutso's.

The correct patent references for the Garutso Balanced Lenses, as used in the various films mentioned, are these:

U.S. 2,550,685, U.S. 2,591,535 and U.S. 2,651,237.

Jose Ferrer plays a great Cyrano. The movie stays true to the play for the most part. A must see. I downloaded the MPEG2 and had no problems burning it to DVD so I could view it on TV. The file is huge but the movie is worth it.

Technical note regarding "Cyrano de Bergerac" [1950] and the Garutso Balanced Lens. The Garutso Balanced Lens is an insitu camera lens effectively simulating a faux 3D effect by keeping the foreground and background in focus at the same time. "Deputy Marshal" [1949] was the first feature film employing the Garutso Balanced Lens followed by "Apache Chief" [1949], "Cyrano de Bergerac" [1950], and "The Wild One" [1953].

US patent 5212589 [1953]

Abstract:

"A lens system having discrete variations of focal length at discrete distances of radius outward from the optic axis for focussing light of plural wavelengths. The lens system which directs a laser beam onto a target for ablation or exposure applications includes one set of lens elements to handle short wavelength light used for ablation or exposure applications, and another set of lens elements to handle long wavelength light used for alignment applications. The lens system which provides for the ablation or exposure functions at short wavelength and for through-the-lens alignment at a longer wavelength and higher numerical aperture consists of three elements. Two outer lens elements are made entirely of fused quartz. An inner element disposed between the two outer lens is composed of any material such as optical glass. The inner lens element has a hole ground through its center."

The Garutso Balanced Lens is still being used: "Yellow " [2005] and "Bauerfeind" [2009].

This is the way Cyrano was meant to be performed. The original dialogue and the remarkable performances in this film are simply not to be missed. Watch it now and enjoy. Fabulous.

What a film! I usually don't particular like it when a play is put on film, but this was absolutely charming. I love the dialogue, especially the scene at the beginning where Cyrano says things like "Small my nose? Why, magnificent my nose!" and such. Jose Ferrar greatly deserved any awards that he got for this role. 'Bravo' to all the cast and crew!

This has to be in the top 5 best movies found on the Archive. Thanks again, to those who make these great offerings available to us.

Obviously a great classic performance of a great play. I was delighted to find it on archive.org, as it was an old favourite of mine. The MPEG2 copy here is good, although the contrast is rather poor.

I only want to add that I had no problem playing this or any other film downloaded from this site on either the VLC player (www.videolan.org) or KMPlayer (just search, it can be downloaded from several places). These are both free, and both play almost any media file without the need for additional codecs. I've never had either of them try to uninstall any existing software on my computers nor have they caused any conflicts. If you're having trouble, you might try one or the other.

OK, Jose Ferrer (Mel's dad if you're a big CROSSING JORDAN fan), and, as if that weren't enoigh we get !!! A FLOURISH OF TRUMPETS!!!
Mala Powers, who died just last June from Leukemia, and who appeared in over 70 movies and television shows during her career. Hard to believe Cyrano was only her fourth.
Then William Prince: This actor looks AND sounds a LOT like Lew Ayres which probably didn't help him any in getting film roles. Most of his work, until a couple of years before his death in 1996, was on television.

OK..about this adaptation of the play. It's the best. OK, you may have and may still see other films or television presentations that give you the WHOLE play but you will NEVER see Cyrano played better than Mr. Ferrar did here. (There's a reason it got him the best actor Oscar for that year---AND a Golden Globe).

FIVE STARS FOR CYRANO.

NOW:

If you have sound but no video (I have observed this problem with several different files) one way to fix this is to install the k-lite codec pack which you can now download from the archive...just go HEREk http://www.archive.org/details/K-liteCodecPack

THEN watch your movie in the Windows Classic Media Player that comes with that pack. I did it and sound and picture both work fine.

One note about the codec pack. 2 things will happen when you install the first of the two downloads I have put here for you. ONE it will drag you to K-Lite's official webpage to get the update. But you already have the update (I assume you downloaded BOTH files) so just shut their page down with a nod of thanks and go ahead and install the update. The second thing that will happen is that it will try to UNinstall any divx software you may have. Depending on how much storage space and how much RAM you have it is usually safe to keep your old software as well as this. It will try to argue with you but be firm. I have tried it BOTH ways and I have more choice keeping both and no system instability either. But that's up to you I just wanted to give you a head's up.

A very entertaining, emotionally engaging film. The MPEG 1 is a good copy.

A very enjoyable telling of the tragic romance. Well produced and directed. Stagy at times. Jose Ferrer is excellent as Cyrano.

I downloaded the mpeg1 file. Audio and video are fine.

I downloaded,only sound plays, no moving pictures. What am I doing wrong?

I've downloaded somewhere between 300-400 movies off of this site and never had any trouble playing those movies using the above combination of software and burning those movies to DVD using Final Cut Pro. This is despite comments left by other people who seem to be having various odd problems playing and burning those same movies. For instance, I just downloaded and watched the MP4 version of this movie, Cyrano de Bergerac, and had no problems with it . . . the sound is all there and so is the picture. Try the above setup, it always works perfectly for me.


As to my opinion of this movie, it was the best version available until Gerard Depardieu did his in French (worth learning the language if only for that reason). As a side note, I think his version of the Count of Monte Christo (also in French) is also very good.

I have tried all formats yet my media players won't play this----any suggestions?

As of the other day I was able to download the mpg1 file (about 1.2 gb) and I'm delighted to see and hear it from beginning to end. A nice thrill and a marvelous piece of classic cinema!

I just tried the Mpeg2 version and is stops after about 11 minutes. I tried it with 5 different video player programs and it's no go.

It's a great movie I hope it gets fixed, but I wouldn't waste my time downloading 4.4Gig until it does.

I had the same problem as the previous two posters, having downloaded the MPG file and then the MP4 file, to find that neither had sound after about 15 minutes. I have now downloaded the MPEG2 file and can confirm that it has sound throughout. The only problem I had with it, is that the last minute or 2 seems to be missing - it cuts off abruptly during the last scene and there are no end titles. Don't know if this is just me, or is this copy missing the last minute or so?

In any case, this is such a brilliant movie - so well written, and Jose Ferrer's acting in the lead role is superb, really making this wonderful feisty character his own. I saw this film years ago and was so impressed with it, and it's great to see it again. Very recommended.

the download of mpeg2 took me less then 2 hours (with free download manager) the sound works. strange !!